A federal appeals court rejected a bid from a group of Maryland parents to require Montgomery County Public Schools to allow them to opt their children out of lessons that involve LGBTQ-inclusive material. A divided three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a lower court decision denying a preliminary injunction on the basis that the parents had not yet demonstrated how the county’s board of education book policy would infringe on their right to free expression of religion. Three sets of parents – who are Muslim, Jewish and Christian – along with a parental rights organization, sued the Maryland school district after it said it would no longer allow parents to opt their children out of lessons that used a slate of newly approved LGBTQ-inclusive books.